For decades we as a species have been deciding to turn food into an industry. This decision has had disastrous consequences, but like CO2 in the atmosphere it can't be reversed overnight.
Cross-pollination can bring genetically modified strains into organic crops, making it hard to keep a crop organic even if you want to.
Run-off from industrial agriculture has damaged water and soil, which will impact whatever is planted, whether organic or not.
Soil depletion has also lead to decreased nutrient presence in fruits and vegetables.
Industrial agriculture has reduced the number of varieties of each species grown. Why does all broccoli look the same? Surely pre-industry, there were numerous varieties of broccoli.
Land is not divided in such a way to make local, small-scale, organic farms practical. Where are you going to put a farm in New York City or Los Angeles?
This is not to say the problem can't be fixed, but we are living in a non-ideal time for food, so there won't be any ideal choices. The only thing you can do is make better choices, and try to turn the direction of food production around so that eventually ideal choices will be possible.
> Why does all broccoli look the same? Surely pre-industry, there were numerous varieties of broccoli.
I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic here or not. If you are sincere then you are mistaken beyond your wildest dreams. All cultivars of the broccoli species look magnificently different.
Broccoli, kale, collard greens, Chinese broccoli, cauliflower, Romanesco broccoli and broccoflower, cabbage, brussels sprouts, and kohlrabi are all different cultivars within the same species: Brassica oleracea.
Right. It was just a randomly chosen example. Perhaps it was a poor one.
I'm aware of the size of the Brassica genus and the B. oleracea species in particular. I was not, however, trying to make the point that B. oleracea is a species without a lot of variety.
I was trying to make the point that the food industry consistently simplifies the genetic variety of foods, sometimes alarmingly so. Bananas are definitely a better example.
And like any "industry" there are niche providers that specialize in different areas. This is where Community Supported Agriculture, farmer's markets, and supporting your local farms comes into play.
You don't have to buy all your vegetables and fruits at the convenience store or local supermarket. It may be easier, but in that case you're exchanging variety for convenience, so don't be surprised at the result.
The impact of industrial agriculture can't be undone simply by buying from local farms. It can be mitigated, but mitigated does not equal undone.
If I buy my produce from a local farm whose soil is full of run-off from an industrial farm upstream, I'm still being impacted by industrial agriculture. If my local farm only has one type of banana because industrial agriculture has killed all the other ones (this is a metaphor, not reality), then I'm still being impacted by industrial agriculture. If I cook my locally grown produce with water polluted by industrial farms, I'm still being impacted by industrial agriculture.
Riding your bike to work doesn't make you immune to the impacts of climate change. Neither does buying locally grown produce make you immune to the impacts of industrial agriculture.
There was an interesting read on HN not too long ago about the "biggest mistake" of humanity... and it was settling down and growing crops instead of hunting and gathering which allegedly made life easier but according to the article it actually made things much worse in terms of health, time invested in order not-to-starve and a big point were monocultures: humans feed on hardly any diversity which can lead to all sorts of malnourishment and they found proof of that in lots of bones from ancient civilizations after their culture had moved to farming.
Cross-pollination can bring genetically modified strains into organic crops, making it hard to keep a crop organic even if you want to.
Run-off from industrial agriculture has damaged water and soil, which will impact whatever is planted, whether organic or not.
Soil depletion has also lead to decreased nutrient presence in fruits and vegetables.
Industrial agriculture has reduced the number of varieties of each species grown. Why does all broccoli look the same? Surely pre-industry, there were numerous varieties of broccoli.
Land is not divided in such a way to make local, small-scale, organic farms practical. Where are you going to put a farm in New York City or Los Angeles?
This is not to say the problem can't be fixed, but we are living in a non-ideal time for food, so there won't be any ideal choices. The only thing you can do is make better choices, and try to turn the direction of food production around so that eventually ideal choices will be possible.